The Yummy Side of Kolkata

Despite the political drama that has brought Kolkata on page 1 in newspapers, there are still other chatpata stories that make Kolkata famous. Yes, Kolkata is the place for food lovers. The city never keeps you hungry for it offers you a wide variety of steaming street foods, instantly made and available at reasonable prices.

Fuchkas

These are also known as golgappa or panipuris in cities Mumbai and Delhi. These are small sized puris stuffed with a mixture of mashed potato, green chillies, spices and coriander leaves. The pani is made of mixing spices, lemon and coriander or pudina leaves. The puris with the stuffing dipped in the pani tastes amazing. These are now available for Re.1 each.

Samosa (singara)

The Bengali equivalent is singara. These are often available in sweet shops. These are crusts made of wheat stuffed with a filling that contains mashed potatoes, vegetables, chaat masala, other spices, green chillies and even nuts. The crust is then deep fried in oil. These are available for Rs.7 each.

Oil fries (tele bhaja)

Tele bhaja is the Bengali equivalent for the pakoras of various types. These are made right on the footpaths by people who carry mobile gas cookers. These are not too sophistic in the making and looks but the best part is that they are sold fresh. No health hazards have been reported till date except obesity. There actually pakoras made out of potatoes, onions, eggplant, egg, prawn, etc. These are available for Rs.4 each.

Rasgulla (roshogolla)

These are spongy balls made from milk which are kept submerged in thick sweet syrup. Kolkata is dotted with sweet shops and people will find no shop that does not sell rasgullas. These are also available in canned packages by K. C. Das. The price of sweets is taken according to the number of pieces ordered unlike the sweet shops in Delhi and Mumbai. Each rasgulla costs around Rs6 – Rs.10.

Sweet curd (mishit doi)

This is found especially in Kolkata. Usually we have bland curd at home. But here you get to dig your teeth into a semi-solid mass of sweet curd. These are available in mud pots. These are available i n 100gms, 200gms, 500gms and 1kg pots. The price varies according to the quality.